Live stream: Watch the Bill Turner Cup school football grand finals LIVE

While Westfields hit the back of the net with regularity in the girls, Endeavour boys earned their title the hard way by showing nerves of steel from 12 yards. Re-live all the action from a big day

Endeavour Sports High has broken a run of two consecutive heartbreaking losses to finally claim their first-ever Bill Turner Cup crown, with a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Ipswich Grammar in the final at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility.

Goalkeeper Max Bertoia was the hero for the Sydney school, saving two penalties as they held their nerve to win the shootout 3-1 after scores remained locked at 0-0 after extra time.

The win was sweet revenge for Endeavour, who went down in the last two finals, held in 2022 and 2019, with the result overturning Ipswich’s 2-1 victory over the Sutherland school in 2019.

While the teams couldn’t be separated over the course of 80 minutes of play, there was a stark difference once they stepped up to the penalty spot.

Endeavour Sports High are the 2023 Bill Turner Cup champions.

Things didn’t start well for Ipswich, with Sam Stanaway striking the first penalty against the crossbar.

And while Endeavour players Emilio Peralta, Zane Stevenson and Kristian Mitrovski all slotted their respective penalties, Bertoia pulled off two brilliant saves to deny Ipswich’s Usher Dull and Sam McKoster to give the side an unassailable 3-1 lead.

“I’m delighted for the boys,” said coach Liam Fitz-Gerald.

“It was some final, and to be fair we’ve had a few games like that on the way to the finals series. We’re delighted to have given plenty of boys an opportunity over the course of the competition and I’m very happy for them.”

And while Bertoia might have stunned the crowd with his excellent performance, Fitz-Gerald said his heroics weren’t a huge surprise to the team and coaching staff.

“We had another shootout on the road to the final and he’s come up big twice. He should be proud of himself, that’s one of his many weapons as a keeper in the shootout and he certainly deserves it.”

Max Bertoia (third from right front) was the star of the show during penalties.

The shootout was a fitting finish to what has been a dramatic game. Endeavour had the better of the first half, with the team dominating possession and spreading the Ipswich defence with some nice passing.

Left winger Kristian Mitrovski was a particular threat for the Sydney school, causing plenty of headaches with his pace down the flank.

He was involved in creating perhaps the best chance of the half 19 minutes in, combining well with Emilio Peralta to get in behind the Ipswich defence before firing narrowly over the crossbar from an angle.

The arm wrestle continued after the break as both sides pushed for a goal.

There was a nervous moment for Ipswich in the 36th minute when keeper Lachlan Green came out to clear a through ball. The clearance was blocked and ended up at the feet of an Endeavour player, however some excellent scrambling defence ensured that they couldn’t get a shot away.

There was nothing between the teams after 80 minutes.

Endeavour's Cameron Badger looks for support.

It was the first in a series of near misses, with a mistake from the Endeavour defence two minutes later giving Ipswich half a chance, however Bertoia was quick off his line to clear the danger.

The Queensland school then had arguably the best chance of the match up until that point when a cross was fired into the box from the left, however striker Ollie Gartner fired over the bar from 10 metres out.

The game went from box to box in what was an entertaining final 15 minutes, however neither team could break through for a winner as both defences held firm.

The game went into golden goal extra time, which saw one player drop off each side after five, 10 and 15 minutes.

Fans, players and officials held their breath five minutes into extra time as Endeavour’s Luke Orsina unleashed a left-footed shot from the top of the box, however it narrowly sailed wide of the post.

Two minutes later Mitrovic stung the palms of Ipswich’s keeper after cutting in from the left, before another shot went over as Endeavour kept knocking on the door.

With both teams reduced to eight, Endeavour had a great chance with just a couple of minutes left in extra time, however Ipswich keeper Green smothered the shot to keep his team in it.

With seconds remaining, Ipswich was awarded a free kick just outside the box, with Nelson Deng’s deflected shot going just wide of the left post to ensure the game ended 0-0.

Endeavour held their nerve once the game went to penalties, scoring all three shots, with Bertoia pulling off two excellent saves and seeing another hit the crossbar as Ipswich converted only one of their four attempts.

The defensive lines impressed against some strong attacks.

Five-star Westfields creates Bill Turner football history

Westfields Sports High has created history by winning an unprecedented fifth straight Bill Turner Trophy following a 5-1 victory over Maribyrnong Secondary College in the final at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility.

The Sydney school showed plenty of composure to come from a goal down to play some excellent football and run over the top of their opponents.

Coach Victoria Guzman was thrilled with the performance.

“We knew that the players were going to be a bit nervous and Maribyrnong is a great school,” she said.

Maribyrnong Secondary College v Westfield Sports High (Trophy grand final)

“With big occasions they get nervous, but this is why this tournament is so fantastic: it prepares them for major tournaments.

“When they built into the game, they were fantastic. I was just sitting there enjoying it, and that was the best part of it. They won, but they played fantastically well, and they should be proud of themselves.”

In particular, Guzman was pleased with the fact that her team was able to soak up some early pressure before asserting their dominance on the game.

Westfields are champions of the nation - yet again.

“As soon as we got that first goal back, you could see them ease into their own skin,” said Guzman.

“They showed it in the second half, they were fantastic and played the Westfields style.

Going into the break 2-1 up, Westfields completely dominated the second half, adding three more goals to ensure that the school’s stranglehold on the competition, which started in 2017, continues for at least another year.

After a bright opening that went from end to end, the Melbourne team opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Alexis Pantazopoulos slotted a rebounded shot home to give her side 1-0 lead.

Both sides kept pushing for a goal in what was an exciting half with Westfields coming up with a moment of sheer brilliance midway through the half to level things up.

Picking the ball up 30m out from Maribyrnong’s goal, midfielder Kiara Bonora unleashed a brilliant shot that sailed over the top of the keeper’s head and into the top corner.

Westfields proved far too strong for Maribyrnong.

Westfields responded magnificently after going 1-0 behind.

Westfields continued to assert their dominance and took the lead on the stroke of halftime with midfielder Claire Corbett playing a lovely ball in behind Maribyrnong’s defence and Matilda Dia Wade-Witz expertly finishing.

While the first half was an arm wrestle, the second half went all one way as Westfields ran riot.

The school had their third in the 38th minute when forward Tyra Bagaine did incredibly well to beat her opposing player one on one before squeezing a shot in between the keeper and the near post.

With the team in cruise control, they truly asserted their dominance in the final 10 with two more goals putting the icing on the cake.

Amelia Cassar sought to put in her own contender for goal of the game with a brilliant 25m strike from the top of the box to make it 4-1. She sealed her brace two minutes later with Dia Wade-Witz finishing off the job with a goal just before fulltime.

Westfields poured in the goals in the second half.

Maribyrnong turn the tables with second-half magic

Maribyrnong Secondary College has made up for a disappointing loss in Tuesday’s semifinal with an excellent second half performance to down Port Macquarie’s St Joseph’s Regional College 3-1 in an entertaining third-place playoff in the Bill Turner Cup.

After going into halftime trailing 1-0, the Melbourne school turned on the heat after the break with three well worked goals to claim victory.

Maribyrnong came firing out of the blocks and come close in just the fourth minute when Raajeer Ramani made a nice break down the right wing, only be denied by keeper Cody Lynch.

Maribyrnong Secondary College v St Joseph’s Regional College (Cup third place playoff)

The keeper was called into action again just two minutes later to pull off a wonderful diving save from a Dion Toro shot.

While the Melbourne school was controlling possession, St Joseph’s were dangerous on the break and they made their opponents pay midway through the half with an excellent end-to-end counter attack.

Left winger Zac Lovett did well to get around his defender before finding striker Joshua Baxter unmarked at the back post to slot the ball home to give his side the lead.

The Victorian side blew the game open in the second half.

The Port Macquarie school almost doubled their lead shortly after, forcing a smart save from Maribyrnong keeper Jacob Buchanan, before rattling the crossbar from 25m with a booming strike.

It kicked off a period of box-to-box action, with Maribyrnong’s Dejan Trncic also hitting the crossbar with a brilliant strike 25m out just before halftime.

While on top in terms of possession in the first half, the Melbourne school made its dominance count in the second with some excellent goals.

The first came three minutes after the break with a length of the field goal that started with the goalkeeper and ended with the ball in the back of the net.

Midfielder Trncic gave his side the lead in the 41st minute when he slotted the ball away after a nice break down the left wing, and despite the best efforts of St Joseph’s keeper Lynch, who saved a penalty midway through the second half, Maribyrnong made it 3-1 with 10 minutes to go after scoring a header from a well-worked short corner.

Maribyrnong finished strongly to grab third place

Second-half blitz sees Kelvin Grove break school record

Kelvin Grove State College has recorded their best-ever result in the Bill Turner Trophy competition after defeating Merewether High 4-0 in the third-place playoff.

The Brisbane school put on a clinical second half performance, scoring three goals in seven minutes, including a brilliant 20m screamer, to wipe away the Newcastle school in the day’s opening match after a tight opening period.

Kelvin Grove State College v Merewether High School (Trophy third place playoff)

Coming off disappointing losses in Tuesday’s semi-finals, both sides struggled to create clear-cut chances in the early stages as the teams fought for dominance in midfield.

However, with three minutes before the break, Kelvin Grove opened the scoring when right midfielder Michaela Foster put in a dangerous cross that was fumbled by Merewether’s keeper Quiola Athur, with Zani Ferreira tapping in at the back post.

Kelvin Grove celebrate Zani Ferreira's opener.

Kelvin Grove stayed the more composed.

The Brisbane side took this momentum into the second half, with midfielder Xiana Ludwig pulling off the moment of the match with a stunning 20m strike into the top corner to give her side a 2-0 lead.

This was the beginning of a brilliant seven-minute blitz from Kelvin Grove, with forward Millie Green doing well to turn her defender in the box and slot the ball away in the 45th minute, before completing her brace two minutes later after some excellent lead-up play.

The third-place result bettered the college’s previous record of fourth in 2018, while Merewether also notched up its best performance in what was the Newcastle school’s first appearance at the finals.

The Brisbane school finished a credible third.

Kelvin Grove finished their season in style.

PREVIEW

Is there any way to stop the Westfields Sports High machine at the Bill Turner School Football finals?

Maribyrnong Secondary College head of football, Adrian Maz, believes it is possible.

The Victorian school enters its first Bill Turner Trophy grand final as serious underdogs despite sweeping past Kelvin Grove State College 4-0 in Tuesday’s semi-finals.

It is a daunting task that faces them in stopping a rampaging Westfields from clinching a historic fifth-state trophy.

The Trophy grand final will be exclusively live streamed along with the Bill Turner Cup decider and third-place playoffs on Wednesday from 10am.

Westfields flexed its muscle in the semi-finals with a 9-0 demolition of Merewether High, although suffered a serious setback with back Charley Cornwall going down with a serious knee injury.

While Maz had a front-row seat for Westfields impressive semi-finals performance, it hasn’t dented the belief he has in his troops.

“It is definitely going to be a big challenge, the biggest challenge yet for the girls. We are really excited about it,” Maz said.

“They look pretty lethal up front, they have some really good movement up front and clinical finishing.

“One thing we don’t think the girls get enough of is a really challenging game. Regardless of the result, the girls will get so much out of playing Westfields. We are excited for that challenge that lies ahead.”

Maribyrnong showed how strong their backline can be in the shutout of Kelvin Grove with the way they scrambled to shutdown all attacking raids from the Queensland side.

Maz said he was impressed with the way the team built into the game, but with the strength of their grand final rivals, Maribyrnong know they need to be on point from the first whistle.

“I think it was good for them to get that first game in,” Maz said.

“I think it took them a little while to find their groove in the game but once they started to connect with each other on the pitch then we started to see some better football. Hopefully it is promising for (Wednesday’s) game.”

In the Bill Turner Cup final for the boys, Queensland powerhouse Ipswich Grammar will clash with Endeavour Sports High.

Ipswich withstood a late barrage from rivals Maribyrnong in the semi-finals to earn a shot at national glory while Endeavour cruised past Northern NSW rivals St Joseph’s.

Originally published as Live stream: Watch the Bill Turner Cup school football grand finals LIVE